The Charge

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch!

Opening Statement

We all knew this live-action version of Dr. Seuss's classic story had its
work cut out for it. There are those—including the late Doctor himself,
apparently—who find the 1966 cartoon version to be perfect, and this new
live version to be completely superfluous and frankly something of a heresy. It
is a story many of us have grown up watching year after year, and so this
newcomer had the advantage of a ready-made, built-in audience. It also had the
disadvantage of trying to live up to so many deeply ingrained Christmas
memories.

Facts of the Case

The story is so familiar that I will take just a few moments to refresh your
memories. The Grinch (Jim Carrey—Ace Ventura: Pet Detective,
The Mask, Liar, Liar) lives high on
Mount Crumpit, overlooking the peaceful village of Whoville, where we find the
happy people known as the Whos. As Christmas approaches he decides to make their
lives miserable by taking away all the trappings of Christmas—their
biggest holiday of the year. In the end, the Whos celebrate Christmas anyway,
since they know the true meaning of Christmas, and the Grinch is so moved that
he becomes a nice person and they all live happily ever after.

The Evidence

Let's cut to the chase, shall we? Universal's release of The Grinch on
DVD is billed as a Collector's Edition and it certainly lives up to the name in
terms of special features. It is absolutely packed with extras so much so that
I'll give you a quick listing:

• Max's Playhouse. This features a number of fun
kid-oriented activities, including a "Rhyme Time" game, a "Dress
the Grinch" game, and an animated storybook entitled "The Care and
Feeding of a Grinch." There is also a Music Time section with sing-alongs
for "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" and "Where are You,
Christmas," two songs that feature heavily in the movie. There is also a
Faith Hill music video of "Where are You, Christmas." Finally, there
is a short, cute presentation entitled "How Do I Find Things," which
teaches kids how to navigate around a DVD menu using the remote. Depending on
your point of view, this may be more information than you want your kids to
have.

• Spotlight on Location. This seven-minute featurette is
fairly standard stuff, but does spend some time focusing on Rick Baker's makeup
designs for the movie. Video quality for this featurette is disappointingly
blurry.

• Who School. At a running time of 5:40, this featurette
tells about the work that went into creating the distinctive physical look for
the Whos, as well as teaching the actors how to move and act like Whos.

• Makeup Application and Design. A six and a half-minute
look at Rick Baker's design for the Grinch's unique look and the balance that
had to be struck between the makeup and Jim Carrey's need to use his facial
expressions.

• Seussian Set Decoration. A look at the process of
transferring two-dimensional line drawings in Dr. Seuss's books to
three-dimensional sets.

• Visual Effects. A lengthy look at the delicate CGI and
other visual effects work that went into creating Whoville and the Grinch's
adventures.

• DVS—Descriptive Video Service. This is the first
DVD I have experienced with narration to assist the visually impaired. This
track was very well done. It was surprisingly effective and remarkably
unobtrusive.

• Wholiday Recipes. Recipes for three Who holiday treats.
Two sound pretty tasty, but one sounds rather questionable.

• By the Numbers. A collection of statistics about the
production that should amuse trivia buffs or would-be movie producers.

• Theatrical Trailer. Pretty self-explanatory, I
think.

• The Grinch's Special Offer. In reality, a promo for the
Universal Studios theme parks in California and Florida. Crass marketing
perhaps, but it worked on me—I've got my flight booked.

• Production Notes. Here we learn that Dr. Seuss resisted
attempts for years to make a live-action version of The Grinch,
contending that the beloved 1966 cartoon version could never be outdone. The
notes go on from there are quite lengthy and detailed.

• Cast and Filmmakers. Bios and headshots of nine people
who worked on the film, ranging from director Ron Howard to young Taylor Momsen,
the actress behind Cindy Lou Who.

• DVD Newsletter. A plug to get you to go out on the web
and subscribe to Universal's DVD email newsletter.

• Game Trailer. A trailer for a computer game based on the
movie.

• DVD-ROM Content. These include DVD-ROM accessible
selections for many of the items listed above, as well as Sound Snippets, a
Grinch screensaver, a downloadable Grinch Screenmate and custom browser, and a
demo of the above-mentioned Grinch game. Unfortunately, I could not get this
demo to work on my wife's trusty Toshiba laptop, so I don't know if it is any
fun or not, but it looks cool based on the trailer.

All told, there are special features to keep young and old entertained for
hours. As is often the case they vary in degree of interest and usefulness, but
the sheer volume is impressive. Sorely missed is a commentary track by Ron
Howard, since his interesting and informative Apollo 13 track is still one of my
favorites, but I guess we can't always get what we want.

The audio on this disc is impressive as well. In addition to the DVS audio
option mentioned above there are three standard audio tracks. We have a DTS 5.1
track, a Dolby Digital 5.1 track, and a Dolby Digital 5.1 French track. Both
English-language tracks are crisp and clear and make excellent use of the
surround channels. There are a number of action scenes in this movie that
benefit very nicely from well-done surround audio. The DTS track, as usual, is a
marked improvement over the Dolby Digital track, but both are very nicely
done.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

But what, you may ask, about the movie itself? Does this Grinch really
measure up to the holiday classic we all know and love? Well, no, it doesn't. In
the effort to pad the original 22-minute running time out to feature-film
length, we get a lot of new information that wasn't contained in the original.
We learn a lot more about the Whos and their lives. We learn a lot more about
the Grinch, where he comes from, and why he is as mean as he is. Along the way
we learn that less sometimes really is more. I didn't need to see how the Grinch
first arrived in Whoville as a baby on Christmas Eve. (I certainly didn't need
to see Whos having a wife-swapping key party in the background, either.) I
didn't need to see the Grinch as a child, suffering rejection and cruelty from
his schoolmates, thus leading him to hate Christmas and the whole Christmas
season. As the good Doctor wrote in the original book: "No one knows why;
no one quite knows the reason." Ron Howard and his accomplices should have
left it at that.

We also see a lot more of the adult Grinch than we really want to. We see
him living in his dank, smelly, garbage-infested cave high on Mt. Crumpit. Here
we learn of his wide variety of eccentricities that go far beyond just casual
hatred of the Whos and Christmas. The scenes in the Grinch's lair are rather
unpleasant and over-the-top, and just too gloomy to be much fun. Making matters
worse, the movie spends far too much time in the cave.

Speaking of unpleasant and over the top, we come to the performance by lead
actor Jim Carrey in the title role. Carrey's performance is so wild and
unrestrained as to be totally grotesque and off-putting. He manages to take W.
C. Fields, Jim Backus, and Jerry Lewis and combine them into one strange
Frankenstein monster of a character. He manages to restrain himself and give a
good performance in a few isolated places, but most of the time he engages in
his usual self-indulgent trademark antics. This is nowhere more pronounced than
his rendition of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," which takes on a
twisted cabaret-style air.

As long as we are on the subject of Carrey, a comment on his makeup is in
order. Rick Baker did an outstanding job with the various designs for the movie,
especially the Grinch. Still, I am reminded of something that was said when Tim
Burton's Batman was released. The
comment was made at that time that a lot of careful design went into the Joker's
makeup; after all, if you are paying for Jack Nicholson you want to make darn
sure the audience sees him. I wonder if the same thing might be said for Jim
Carrey. On the other hand, Carrey's physical hijinks are more of a trademark
than is his face, so perhaps the same logic does not apply to him.

The rest of the cast is passable in their roles, but their characters and
lines are so mundane that they are quickly forgotten. Christine Baransky is a
delight in her role as Martha May Whovier, the Grinch's long-lost old flame;
it's just a shame that the character was included in the script in the first
place. Sir Anthony Hopkins is wonderful as the narrator, filling the big shoes
of Boris Karloff with ease. Perhaps the most delightful discovery in the cast is
Taylor Momsen, who was barely six years old when the movie was made. She's
adorable without being cloying, and seems like a very promising child
actress.

On the other hand, special recognition has to go out to the whole production
design team that worked on The Grinch. The buildings, furniture, and all
sorts of interesting little doodads on screen look exactly like illustrations
from a Seuss book come to life. From the Who houses to their refrigerators and
telephones everything looks just perfect.

Finally, the video presentation on this DVD is not what I would have
expected for such a high-profile picture. Granted, it is completely free from
dirt, scratches, and other blemishes; I would expect no less for such a recent
movie. Throughout the movie the image is just slightly soft and out of focus, so
that there are no sharp edges or definite textures. On the plus side, this means
that there is no edge enhancement to worry about. Colors seem to be unnaturally
muted, so that the entire movie has a soft, bland look to it. This may not be a
fault of the DVD transfer so much as the original print; I know that some
critics reviewing How the Grinch Stole Christmas on its original
theatrical release mentioned the same problem. Whatever the case may be, it
certainly detracts from the already limited pleasure of viewing this DVD.

Closing Statement

Call me stubborn, call me old and set in my ways. I like the cartoon version,
and this live-action version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas tries way
too hard to fix something that isn't broken. This new version fails to capture
the whimsy and charm of the old cartoon. All the humorous bits seem forced, and
overall this version has no feeling of joy or fun.

The Verdict

Ron Howard and his accomplices are guilty of tinkering with a beloved holiday
classic. Shame on them.

Universal goes free on a split decision: the extra content is excellent and
the audio is great, but the video does not live up to
expectations—especially for a movie released less than a year ago.